Northern Flyway

Birds have been companions, harbingers, auguries and symbols for humanity for millennia. We follow their song, their migrations, their flyways, we use them for hunting and feed them our crumbs. In Homer, it is birds that pick off the flesh of the dead. Whichever part of life you peer into, chances are there's a bird's eye gazing out of it.

So it is with Northern Flyway from Scottish singers and multi-instrumentalists Jenny Sturgeon (who is also an ecologist) and Fair Isle's Inge Thomson. Their audiovisual show exploring the ecology, folklore, symbolism and mythology of birds was premiered earlier this year. The arrangements and vocal harmonies are often exquisite: a mix of flute, harmonium, accordion, percussion, dulcimer, piano and more, augmented by field recordings by Magnus Robb of no fewer than 26 birds – one for every letter of the alphabet.

Beginning with the title-track (the term used for birds' migratory routes), the music of rosefinches, gannets, lapwings, eagle owls and rooks sits alongside voice recordings and the music itself, with lyrics drawn from the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson and the lore of Odin on ‘Huginn and Muninn’, referring to the Norse god's clever corvids. The songs stand alone but they work best as a unified suite, carrying you far away on a wing, if not a prayer. But who needs prayers when you've got wings?